The labor-intensive features inherent in fruit picking operations by means of a hand-held fruit picker make it desirable to provide an apparatus which maximizes the operator's productivity while minimizing damage to the fruit as well as to the fruit trees. These requirements are only inadequately met in prior art. A number of conventional hand-held fruit pickers do not provide receptacles for the newly picked fruit; once it has been detached from a tree, the fruit is made to fall to the ground at the risk of being bruised or squashed in the process. Other prior art fruit pickers include receptacles which depend from a pole on which the fruit detaching means are mounted. The uneven weight distribution caused by the presence of fruit in such receptacles makes it difficult for the operator to balance the pole, particularly in the dense foliage typical of many fruit trees. Another drawback is that such receptacles can be emptied only by pouring or lifting the fruit therefrom which is time consuming and, moreover, involves considerable stooping and bending. In yet another embodiment of prior art fruit cutting means project outwardly from a fruit conducting tube and are actuatable by manipulation of relatively complicated devices mounted on the tube. The construction of such apparatus increases its weight as well as its contour, is more expensive to manufacture and operate and results in an economically unfavorable product. In still another embodiment a fruit picker is disclosed in which the cutting means are fixedly attached to a rigid fruit-conducting tube. Since tree-grown fruit varies considerably in size, for example from grapefruit to plums, such tubes cannot easily be adapted for different species and are therefore of limited use for orchardists with mixed plantings.
The present invention intends to overcome the deficiencies of prior art by providing a simple, light-weight device which is easy to operate and to keep in operating condition, and which can be produced at a price that the small-orchard owner can afford to pay. Accordingly, a hand-held fruit picker is disclosed which comprises a rigid, elongated tube with an inlet end that is surmounted by a cylindrical lattice cage of substantially the same diameter as that of the tube, and an outlet end to which a flexible chute with an open, manually closable bottom, is attached. The lattice cage is formed from a plurality of elongated ribs, preferably made of flat metal strips, which are circumferentially spaced and held in place around the inlet end of the tube by annular metal bands to which they are attached at non-adjacent junction points. The cage has a cover portion which is defined by the upper portions of the ribs that are deflected through an angle 90 degrees and connected to the arms of a stellate cover plate.
A knife with a pair of blades at diametrically opposite sides of the shank is reciprocally slidable in the plane of the cage cover. In the non-operating position of the fruit picker the blades are spaced apart from bladeguards disposed on opposite sides of a notch that is formed in the cover portion, and define therebetween a pair of outwardly opening channels in which fruit supporting stems are introduced prior to cutting.
A handle for carrying the fruit picker is attached to the exterior of the tube and includes a pivotable lever which is spaced from the handle a distance such that both may be gripped in one hand. A rod, pivotally mounted in a plane that is parallel to the cage cover is linked to the lever. Squeezing of the lever against the handle thrusts one end of the rod against a slidable knife support which is mounted on the cover plate. The knife and the knife support, at right angles to each other linearly retracting under the momentum of the rod, cause the blades to move retreatingly across the channels and into the bladeguards, slicing along the way through any fruit stems held in the channels. The detached fruit drops through the open inlet into and through the tube and comes to rest in the chute at the bottom. A pair of springs which connect the knife shank and the cover plate are expanded during the knife's retraction. Upon release of the lever squeeze the rod's momentum is stopped, and the contracting springs advance the knife again to its non-operating position.
Perforations of generally circular shape are circumferentially distributed along the tube wall to reduce the weight of the fruit picker. Another group of perforations of smaller diameter are aligned in diametrically opposite rows along the tube length and anchor segments of a fiber rope which are passed through the interior of the tube. The series of spaced apart rope segments in the tube bore are designed to retard the speed of travel of the detached fruit through the tube.
Other advantages of the present invention, both as to its construction and mode of operation, will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the figures.